Overview
- The trailer, released Tuesday, confirms the hour-long special is narrated by Auliʻi Cravalho and will air November 13 on National Geographic with streaming on Disney+ and Hulu beginning November 14.
- Footage compiles expeditions from all five ocean basins and presents three reported Southern Ocean firsts: the most southerly known deep-sea hydrothermal vent, swarms of egg-carrying Antarctic krill at about 3,000 feet, and a live sighting of a giant Antarctic gonate squid.
- The film shows advanced platforms used in the field, including the remotely operated vehicle SuBastian and deep-ocean camera landers, and introduces the developing DORIS device as a lightweight, lower-cost system intended to widen access to deep-sea imaging.
- Several segments emphasize local partnership and training: Seychellois teams learn camera landers, Gambian students help map threatened mangroves, Pacific communities work on coral and whale research, and Inuit elders in Gjoa Haven join scientists for a first study of Sherman Basin.
- National Geographic will expand the reporting in its November magazine issue, and the project frames a broader problem: scientists say only a tiny fraction of the deep ocean has been observed and that new data and local capacity could inform fisheries, protected areas, and climate resilience planning.